Powerloom Industry Research Articles

SUSTAINABILITY IN TRADITIONAL HANDLOOMS

The handloom sector constitutes a distinct feature of the rich cultural heritage of India and plays a vital role in the economy and cultural identity of the country. It is an ancient industry and is source of livelihood for many villages in India. Its spread varies in style, practice and scale throughout the country - in certain regions it is has a proficient industry, while in others its establishment is localized, where it is a family-based activity. While, hand-woven fabrics are well-sought after both nationally and globally, weavers currently remain marginalized and often impoverished. The well-set power loom industry has further added to their woes. Given the progressive failure of centralized production and distribution ideologies, handlooms represent a decentralized distributed means of livelihood security, environmental consonance, employment generation, skill enhancement, cultural (diversity, identity and) integrity and sustainability. The fabrics and dyes used in the handloom industry are environment-friendly and often unique to a region (based on available skill and resources). The paper comprehensively evaluates and forecasts sustainability in the context of traditional handlooms in India. Results of the study and recommendations are presented in this paper.

From field to factory: tracing transformations in bonded labour in the Tiruppur region, Tamil Nadu

Taking a historical perspective, this paper explores the phasing out of ‘bonded’ labour in agriculture and its reappearance in the village-based power-loom industry in the Tiruppur region of Tamil Nadu, India. Focusing on a village outside Tiruppur, we trace the gradual transformation and ultimate disappearance of forms of labour bondage in agriculture. In this region bondedness in agriculture changed in a number of significant ways, before giving way by about the 1970s to primarily casual and contract-based labour arrangements. Around the same time, small-scale power-loom workshops, which are highly labour intensive and increasingly dependent on migrant labour, began to mushroom in the village, leading to the reintroduction of bonded labour, but this time in the context of rural industrial employment. We explore how debt bondage was introduced and how it affects the working lives of both migrants and non-migrants. The paper examines the differences and similarities between past agricultural and current industrial labour bondage, and how it is experienced and talked about by both employers and workers.

Mass Exodus of Workers: A Case of Strike in Power Loom Industry in Surat

Power loom industry in Surat, an industrial city in South Gujarat (Western India) was paralyzed due to the strike of power loom workers; most of them were the migrant workers. The workers were on strike demanded a rise in wages, which resulted in mass exodus of workers from the city to their hometowns. Due to the low wages, workers were also forced to live in inhumane conditions. The strike went on for a week and the industry lost Rs 720 crore. The paper describes the various events of the strike and the role and effects of various stakeholders. It also discusses the effect of strike on the industry. The findings contradict the belief that industrial relations is loosing importance. It also opposes the view that industry had started taking care of workers and workers are happy with the human resources development policies of the organizations. The strike is a testimony to the fact that the conditions of workers are not very good even in the most industrially developed places. Governments, executing bodies, trade unions and workers have to go a long way in improving the conditions of workers and ensuring that they live a decent life.

Asking for and giving baki: Neo-bondage, or the interplay of bondage and resistance in the Tamilnadu power-loom industry

This paper on labour relations in the power-loom industry of the south Indian town Kumarapalayam (Salem district, Tamilnadu) explores the dynamics of this practice of 'ask ing for and giving baki', employers' advances to their labourers, which has now become a widespread custom within this capitalist, industrial and urban setting. The introduction of this practice is related to the manufacturer-employers' search for a stable, skilled and disciplined workforce, the entry of a non-traditional weaving caste (Vellalar Gounder) into this industry, and the exclusion of particular groups on the basis of caste, gender and skill. The effects of giving advances on labour relations and labour turnover, however, reveal the problematic nature of this practice. Although employers have undoubtedly attempted to reintroduce through debt a form of labour attachment within this small-scale power-loom industry, the effectiveness of this strategy is highly paradoxical as labourers continuously escape bonds by moving to other employers, factories and even towns. It is suggested that a study of the dynamics and dialectics of imposing bonds and escaping ties may further our understanding of how labour bondage and its contestation take shape in an urban, industrial context.